Snow rider

ABSTRACT

To provide a novel sliding apparatus on snow having excellent maneuverability in view of human anatomy and capable of excellently making full use of feature of a sliding plate per se, a sliding apparatus on snow includes a sliding plate in a shape of a snow board, a front stay a lower end of which is attached to a front portion of the sliding plate pivotably only in a front and rear direction and which extends in a skewed rear upper direction therefrom, a handle fixed to an upper end of the front stay, a rigid frame a front end of which is pivotably attached to a middle portion of the front stay and which is extended therefrom toward a rear side thereof while being divided in a bifurcated shape and extended to a lower side thereof from a central position above the sliding plate in the front and rear direction to a rear side thereof, two pieces of frame extension portions continuous to the rigid frame in the bifurcated shape, extended to a rear side thereof along side edges of the sliding plate and fixedly attached to the sliding plate,  
     a feet supporting plate arranged between the frame extension portions, a rear stay a front end of which is pivotably attached to an upper portion of the front stay, which is extended therefrom in a rear lower direction and a rear end of which is attached pivotably to the feet supporting plate,  
     a feet holding belt attached to the frame extension portions or the foot supporting plate, and suspensions provided at the front stay, the rigid frame and the rear stay.

[0001] The present invention relates to a sliding apparatus on snow.

[0002] As a representative sliding apparatus on snow, there is known a snow board. However, following two difficulties are accompanied in operating the snow board.

[0003] 1) A snowboard rider slides in a transverse direction while keeping balance in a posture directed in the transverse direction, which is not natural in view of human anatomy and operation thereof is difficult.

[0004] 2) Although the lower half of the body of the rider is fixed to the instrument, the upper half of the body is in a free state and the balance is difficult to keep.

[0005] As other sliding apparatus on snow, there is becoming known a so-to-speak ski bob disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,975. Such a skibob is provided with a structure having a front steering sliding plate and a rear supporting sliding plate, having a support plate for mounting to align both feet of the user above the rear supporting sliding plate and attached with a handle at the front steering sliding plate.

[0006] According to the snow bicycle, a rider slides in the front direction while being directed to the front direction and accordingly, the snow bicycle is more excellent in view of the human anatomy than the snow board, further, since the handle is provided, the upper half body can be restricted to some degree and therefore, there is achieved an advantage that maneuverability is comparatively excellent.

[0007] However, according to the skibob, substantially over the entire length of the supporting sliding plate which needs bending thereof, a frame extension portion constituting an extension portion of a rigid frame is fixed and therefore, the maneuverability inherently provided to the sliding plate is not used to full effect, That is, according to the above-described skibob, there are following four drawbacks.

[0008] 1) The direction cannot be changed by operating the handle but is operated to change by edging (physical weight movement). A rider is rather liable to depend on the presence of the handle and the operation is troubled.

[0009] 2) Despite of about 160 cm from a front end portion of a front plate to a rear end portion of a rear plate, by being divided in two parts, the effective edge length is extremely shorter than that of a ski or a snow board and adverse influence is effected on the operation.

[0010] 3) The front plate is short and full use of the feature of “bending” inherently provided to the plate is not made.

[0011] 4) In the case of the current structure, when the handle is turned to the left, the frame falls to the left and when the handle is turned to the right, the frame falls to the right. In that case, sliding turn must be carried out while turning “the handle reversely” in sliding. That is, turn must always be made while decelerating.

[0012] Hence, it is an object of the invention to provide a novel sliding apparatus on snow excellent in maneuverability in view of human anatomy and capable of making fill use of feature of a sliding plate per se excellently.

[0013] The above-described problem can be solved by a sliding apparatus on snow comprising:

[0014] a sliding plate in a shape of a snow board;

[0015] a front stay a lower end of which is attached to a front portion of the sliding plate pivotably only in a front and rear direction and which extends in a skewed rear upper direction therefrom;

[0016] a handle fixed to an upper end of the front stay;

[0017] a rigid frame a front end of which is pivotably attached to a middle portion of the front stay and which is extended therefrom toward a rear side thereof while being divided in a bifurcated shape and extended to a lower side thereof from a central position above the sliding plate in the front and rear direction to a rear side thereof;

[0018] two pieces of frame extension portions continuous to the rigid frame in the bifurcated shape, extended to a rear side thereof along side edges of the sliding plat and fixedly attached to the sliding plate;

[0019] feet supporting plate arranged between the frame extension portions;

[0020] a rear stay a front end of which is pivotably attached to an upper portion of the front stay, which is extended there from in a rear lower direction and a rear end of which is attached pivotably to the feet supporting plate;

[0021] a feet holding belt attached to the frame extension portions or the feet supporting plate; and suspensions provided at the front stay, the rigid frame and the rear stay.

[0022] A detailed explanation will be given of a structure of a sliding apparatus on snow according to an embodiment of the invention as follows, with reference to the drawing, which shows a perspective view with the representation of a sliding apparatus on snow according to an embodiment of the invention; hereby 10 designates a sliding apparatus on snow, 12 a sliding plate, 14 a front stay, 16 a hinge, 18 a handle, 20 a rigid frame, 22 a hinge, 24 a frame extension portion, 26 a frame extension portion, 28 a feet supporting plate, 30 a feet holding strap, 32 a rear stay, 34 a hinge, 36 a hinge, 38 a suspension, 40 a suspension, 42 a suspension and 44 a suspension.

[0023] A sliding apparatus 10 according to the invention is provided with a sliding plate 12 in a shape of a snow board. As the sliding plate 12, there can be used an existing snow board provided with holes for attaching a frame and the like, which is described below. As a snow board, any of snow boards for downhill, for alpine and for free style can be used.

[0024] At a front portion of the sliding plate 12, a front stay 14 is attached at a lower end 14 a thereof by a hinge 14 pivotable only in the front and rear direction of the sliding plate 12. The front stay 14 is extended in a skewed or inclined upper rear direction by a predetermined length from the lower end 14 a in consideration of the physical length of the rider. An angle made by the above-described front stay 14 and the sliding plate 12 is preferably 60 through 80 degrees, particularly, about 65 through 75 degrees.

[0025] At an upper end of the front stay 14 there is fixed a handle 18 in a shape as illustrated.

[0026] At a middle portion of the front stay 14 there is attached a rigid frame 20 by a hinge 22 pivotably in an up and down direction. The rigid frame 20 is extended in a skewed or inclined direction from a central position in the front and rear direction above the sliding plate 12 to a rear side thereof while being divided in a bifurcated shape from a front end 20 a to the rear side. The rigid fame in the bifurcated shape is integrally provided with frame extension portions 24 and 26 continuous thereto. The frame extension portions 24 and 26 are extended to the lower side along side edges of the sliding plate 12 and are fixed to the sliding plate 12 by screws.

[0027] There is provided feet supporting plate 28 on which the rider mounts the feet between the fame extension portions 24 and 26. It is preferable that a main body of the feet supporting plate 28 is constituted by a rigid rectangular metal plate and is welded to be fixed to side portions of the frame extension portions 24 and 26 substantially over entire lengths of two side portions thereof. Further, it is preferable that the feet supporting plate 28 is integrated with the sliding portion 12 by being fixed to the sliding plate 12 by screws at least at four locations at both sides of the front portion and rear portion thereof. It is preferable that the fame extension portions 24 and 26 and the feet supporting plate 28 are first welded and are afterwards fixed to the sliding plate 12 by screws. It is preferable that the feet supporting plate 28 is coated with rubber at an upper face thereof constituting a feet mounting surface for slippage prevention. Further, at a front portion of the feet supporting plate 28 (or fame extension portions 24, 26), there is attached a feet holding strap 30 in a shape of a belt of a sandal.

[0028] An upper portion of the front stay 14 is attached with a rear stay 32 at a front end thereof by a hinge 34 pivotably in the up and down direction, The rear stay 32 is extended in a skewed or inclined rear lower direction and a lower end thereof is attached to the sliding plate 12 or the feet supporting plate 28 on a rear side of the feet holding strap 12 by a hinge 36 pivotably in the up and down direction.

[0029] The rear side stay 32 is arranged between the two legs of the rider for ease of turning by facilitating to apply the physical weight on an edge on the inner side of turn in the turning operation. In order to efficiently transmit force resulting from the physical weight, it is preferable that a total of the feet supporting plate 28 is fixed to the sliding plate 12 as firmly as possible.

[0030] There are provided suspensions 38, 40, 42 and 44 at middle portions of the front stay 14, the rigid fame 20 and the rear stay 32. The suspensions 38, 40, 42 and 44 function to absorb bending when the sliding plate 12 is bent in cooperation with the hinges 16, 22, 34 and 36.

[0031] Thereby, according to the sliding apparatus on snow, in turning, the edges of the sliding plate 12 can be used to full effect and turning performance and maneuverability are significantly promoted. In contrast thereto, according to the above-described skibob, the sliding plate on the rear side is substantially a rigid member by attaching the frame or the feet supporting plate and as mentioned above, turning performance and maneuverability thereof are not so excellent.

[0032] The sliding plate 12 is constituted by a conventional snow board constituting material laminated with wood, metal, fiberglass or carbon fiber by synthetic resin. It is preferable that side edge portions of a lower face side of the sliding plate are reinforced by sharp metal rails or so-to-speak edge material in order to protect against friction with regard to a sliding face constituting ice and snow although a degree thereof differs and against static friction particularly in the case of turning.

[0033] Meanwhile, it is preferable to constitute the front stay 14, the rigid frame 20 (including frame extension portions 24, 26) and the rear stay 32 by metal pipes of, for example, an aluminium alloy.

[0034] In sliding on the snow by the sliding apparatus on snow explained above, a rider mounts both feet on the feet supporting plate in a state of aligning thereof and inserts then into the strap and slides while holding the handle. Thereby, the rider can slide while directing the body in the advancing direction with the forward posture; further, by holding the handle, balance of the upper half of the body can easily be kept. Further, in addition to the above-described, by making effective use of the bending of the sliding plate, as described above, the tuning performance of the snow board is maintained while ease of use of the so-to-speak snow bicycle is maintained. 

1. A sliding apparatus on snow comprising: a sliding plate (12) in the shape of a snow board, a front stay (14) a lower end of which is attached to a front portion of the sliding plate (12) pivotably only in a front and rear direction and which extends in a skewed rear upper direction therefrom, a handlebar (18) at an upper end of the front stay (14), a frame stay (20) a front end of which is pivotably attached at a middle portion of the front stay (14) and which extends in a bifurcated shape rearward and downward in a central position over the sliding plate (12), wherein at each of the distanced ends of the frame stay (20) having the bifurcated shape, a frame extension portion (24, 26) is connected, which each extend along the edges of the sliding plate (12) and are fixed thereto, a feet supporting plate (28) between the two frame extension portions (24, 26), a supporting stay (32) whose front end is pivotably attached to the upper portion of the front stay (14) and which extends rearward and downward, whose rear end is attached pivotably to the feet supporting plate, a feet holding belt (30) attached to the frame extension portions (24, 26) or to the feet supporting plate (28), and suspensions (38, 40, 42, 44) provided in the axis of the front stay (14), the frame stay (20), and the supporting stay (32) for absorbing forces which occur in the axial direction on the stays during bending of the sliding plate.
 2. Sliding apparatus on snow according to claim 1, wherein the front stay (14) constitutes an angle of 60 to 80° with the sliding plate.
 3. Sliding apparatus on snow according to claims 1 and 2, wherein the rear ends of the frame extension parts (24, 26) are connected with one another in an arcuate shape and the connection portion projects in a skewed upper direction from the sliding plate (12). 